


Hard to Explain

by akiiteru



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Eren denies his feelings, French-Speaking Jean, M/M, awkward crushes, connie is a very minor character, he has gaydar basically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-07
Updated: 2014-04-01
Packaged: 2017-12-28 18:32:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 5,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/995149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akiiteru/pseuds/akiiteru
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Making Jean happy was <i>way</i> worse than making him mad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Fucking with Jean was a daily thing. Hell, Eren should have just written it on his "to-do list" that hung on the fridge. A day wasn't complete if insults weren't exchanged between the two teens. 

For some reason, Eren took great pleasure in making Jean look like a complete dumbass. Of course, Jean had learned exactly what pushed Eren's buttons over the years of their rivalry. Hitting on his adopted sister, gay jokes, and sometimes full-blown fights in the hallway between classes were all fair game. Jokes about Eren's mother were basically the only thing that Jean didn't attempt. 

How the rivalry started was a mystery. It had begun way back in elementary school, and all of the details had been forgotten. The only proof of it was the very large hole that remained in the wall of one of the fourth-grade classrooms, from Eren trying to kick Jean in the face and missing.  
Since then, Jean and Eren had been sworn enemies. 

 

At the end of a very boring, uneventful school day, Eren was beginning his long walk home from school when he heard a shout. He turned and saw a guy that must have been at least college-age throwing punches at someone. 

While Eren _really_ didn’t want to get involved, the pathetic whimpering of whoever was getting beaten up couldn’t be ignored. So Eren sneaked up and gave the older kid a well-placed kick to the groin. The kid groaned and doubled over, and Eren kicked him again, this time in the face. The college kid, who was short and beefy, tried to advance towards Eren, but Eren got his knee up and slammed it into his nose. He was met with the sickening sound of cracking bone. The older boy stepped back in shock, his face bloody. After a few moments, he hightailed it away from Eren, cursing loudly. 

Eren turned to help the other person, who was currently slumped on the sidewalk. He recognized the mop of dull, grey-blond hair and preternaturally horse-like face. 

“Jean, what the fuck?” Eren snapped. Did he really just break a kid’s nose for _this asshole_?

Jean looked up at Eren weakly. Though nasty bruise was forming under his right eye and his nose was bleeding, he still managed to look pissed at the sight of him. 

Eren glared down at Jean. “Are you going to thank me, or will you just stay there looking pathetic and making me regret saving your sorry ass?”

“Yeah sure, thanks,” Jean mumbled. He managed to get up, with some help from Eren, and shoved his hands in his pockets. 

He was beginning to walk away when Eren grabbed his shoulder and made him stop short.

“Do you mind explaining what the hell that was about?”

Jean frowned. “It’s none of your business, Jaeger.”  
“Actually,” Eren said angrily, “I think it is my business at this point.”

Jean sighed. “I dinged his car while driving the other day, and I guess he found out what school I go to. He’s one of my brother’s friends.”

Eren felt a pang of pity, but immediately dismissed it. “Well, that sucks. But don’t expect me to come and rescue you if it happens again.” 

He watched as Jean limped away. For some reason, seeing him in a position of such weakness actually made Eren hate him a little less. Just a little bit.


	2. It's Not Like That

The next day, Eren kept thinking back to the previous afternoon. He really, _really_ , didn’t want to admit it to himself, but Jean did look sort of hot when he was beaten-up.  
 _Wait, what? What the fuck?_

Eren cursed his teenage hormones silently. Those were to blame, weren’t they? There was no way he could suddenly start feeling weird, gay feelings for Jean just out of the blue. Right?

 

“Monsieur Jaeger, are you having difficulty paying attention in class or do you simply refuse to answer my question?” The French teacher, whose name sounded like a nasty cough when Eren tried to say it, boomed from the front of the room. 

“Uh… what was the question?” Eren blushed darkly in embarrassment. 

The teacher snorted. “I do not repeat myself. Maybe Monsieur Kirschtein will be able to help you.”

Jean responded in perfect French, which of course Eren didn’t understand. Eren huffed. He wouldn't admit it, but he sucked at French and Jean's fluent speaking really pissed him off. Not that he was _jealous_ or anything. 

“Does that clear things up?” The teacher snapped. Eren nodded frantically.

“Oh, really?” The teacher smirked. “Can you repeat the answer?”

Eren cursed under his breath. Mr. What’s-his-name was evil.

“Eren,” Jean whispered. “The answer is ‘Si j’ai assez d’argent, je ferai un voyage.’”

Eren was suspicious, but repeated what Jean said, albeit with cringe-worthy pronounciation.

The teacher looked genuinely surprised. “Bon travail.”

“Thanks,” Eren muttered to Jean. 

“I owed you,” Jean said with a smile. A _smile_. Jean was _smiling_ at Eren. That was something that had never happened before.

Eren just stared at the pleasant look on Jean’s face. He felt himself smiling as well, completely against his will. Now _that_ was a chain of events he never expected would occur.

 

The strong need to punch Jean in the face was no longer in Eren’s mind as he passed him in the hallway. The realization of it made him a bit dizzy. He hoped that nobody else had picked up on it.

His hope quickly disintegrated when Connie’s loud, obnoxious voice sounded beside him. 

“So, are you two gay for each other now or what?”

Eren feigned surprise. “What would give you that idea?”

“Oh, well, you two are aways yelling at each other with so much obvious sexual tension. Plus, you should have seen how much you were blushing during French.” Connie laughed and patted Eren on the shoulder with mock sympathy. “Did you really think people wouldn’t notice?”

Eren inhaled sharply, but recovered quickly enough for Connie to be oblivious. “You must be more of an idiot than I thought, because that’s not the case. It’s not like that at all.”

Connie laughed knowingly. “Sure, Eren. Sure. Just don’t come crying to me when you start your sexuality crisis.”

“Pshh. Sexuality crisis _my ass_ ,” Eren muttered. To think that he could be gay for _Jean_ of all people. Seriously.


	3. It Might Be Like That

_What even classifies as a sexuality crisis?_

Eren was lying awake in his bed at three in the morning, and he was pretty sure that Connie had been correct. But _why_? After 7 years of intense hatred for each other, now he expected that they could make something work? Yeah, right.

Eren realized that sleep wasn’t coming, so he picked up his phone and sent a text to Armin.

_hey can we talk_

After a few minutes, his phone buzzed.

_Go to sleep, Eren ___

_can i just call u please_

__There was a long pause, then a response._ _

_Fine._

__Eren dialed Armin’s number. It rang twice, then Armin’s groggy voice answered._ _

__“What’s going on? And why couldn’t we just discuss this over text?”_ _

__Eren groaned. “I’m pretty sure Mikasa reads all of my texts when I’m not looking. And I don’t want to involve her in this.”_ _

__“But you want to involve me?”_ _

__“Listen, I think I’m gay.”_ _

__Eren’s ears rang with silence for a few moments. Then Armin spoke._ _

__“For whom?”_ _

__“Jean.”_ _

__Eren could have sworn he heard Armin laughing. But when he spoke again, his voice was serious._ _

__“When did you find this out?”_ _

__“I don’t know exactly when, but I saved his stupid ass from some guy who was beating him up and then he started acting nice to me and now I’m confused. God, it only happened yesterday and I’m jumping to conclusions and… this is really fucking weird, Armin. What do I do?”_ _

__Armin sighed audibly. “Give it time, Eren. You’ll figure it out.”_ _

__“Hey,” Eren protested. “You’re smart, I expected a good answer!”_ _

__“I can’t solve your problems for you,” Armin said with a yawn. “Now go to sleep.”_ _

__Eren groaned loudly into the phone and hung up, tossing it to the floor. The clock read “3:24.” Yeah, there was still no chance that Eren could sleep._ _

__He grabbed his laptop from his desk and turned it on. The light from the screen was blinding, but he managed to open Facebook. After his eyes adjusted to the brightness, he checked to see who else was online. Nobody._ _

__All of a sudden, a friend request popped up. Eren opened it and nearly had a heart attack when he saw who it was from._ _

_Jean Kirschtein would like to be friends!_

__Though they had both been on Facebook for years, neither Jean nor Eren had sent a request to the other, since they weren’t exactly friends. But now…_ _

__Eren’s hand was actually shaking as he hit “Accept.” Jean’s name popped up on the side of the screen, with a green dot notifying that he was online._ _

__Eren took a deep breath to calm himself. It was just Jean. He could function like a normal human being._ _

__A message from Jean appeared on the screen._ _

“ur awake too?” 

__Eren panicked and slammed his laptop shut. There was _no way_ he could handle all of that at three in the morning. He decided to call it a night, and was relieved he didn’t have to deal with Jean just then. School the next day would be a different matter._ _


	4. It's Definitely Like That

School was mainly uneventful. Eren and Jean didn’t share any classes, and didn’t end up seeing each other until after. Jean was just walking out of the school building as Eren was beginning his walk home. For a moment, Eren thought Jean was approaching him, but he walked right past and waved at someone else. Eren turned and saw that it was Marco.

“Hey, my house is getting renovations done and I need to stay at a friend’s house until the workers leave in a couple hours,” Eren overheard Jean say. “Would that be okay with you?”

Marco frowned. “Sorry, but my parents are dragging me to my little sister’s dance recital. It'll take up the whole afternoon. I wish I could help you out, though.”

Jean nodded. “Okay, man. I’ll ask someone else. Good luck not dying of boredom at that dance thing.” 

Marco laughed. 

Eren felt a spark of hope as Jean turned and saw him. 

_Be cool, Eren. Be cool._

“Hi Jean!” Eren said way too loudly and with too much enthusiasm. He cringed at the sound of his own voice; it sounded so awkward.

Jean waved. “I don’t know if you heard what I was saying to Marco, but there are workers at my house and I need a place to stay for a couple hours.” He looked almost _nervous_. “If you can’t or whatever that’s fine, just-“

Eren cut him off with a bright “Sure!” 

A look of shock crossed Jean’s face, then one of relief. “Okay. Cool.”

They started walking. It was a bit awkward. Eren tried to think of something to say to break the silence, but Jean ended up speaking first.

“Wait... does this make us friends?”

After a moment, the question processed in Eren’s mind. “Yeah, sure.”

Internally, he was screaming.

 

They arrived at the house shortly. The first thing Jean asked was if Eren liked video games.

Eren nodded and showed Jean to the living room, where his collection of games and systems were displayed. They ended up playing Mario Kart. Jean, to Eren’s surprise, kicked his ass at almost every race. After they got sick of playing, they put in a movie.

Eren found himself watching Jean. When Jean turned and met his gaze, he felt his heart rate accelerate. They stared at each other for a strangely long time, until Jean’s face flushed and he looked away. 

“I know how we just agreed that we were friends,” Eren said quietly. He knew that what he was about to say could potentially ruin their growing friendship, but he decided to say it anyway.

“But I don’t know if I want to be... _just_ friends.”

 

Eren could see as the realization hit Jean.

“I- I, um,” Jean stuttered. His face was bright red at that point. “I’ve gotta go. Thanks for letting me stay over, uh… bye.” 

He rushed for the door.

“Wait!” Eren called out after him, but Jean had gone.

“God damn it,” Eren muttered. He felt tears stinging his eyes. _How_ did he think that telling Jean was a good idea? Hell, he probably wasn’t interested in guys in the slightest!

Eren cursed himself for reading the signs wrong. How could he be so fucking _stupid_?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All I can say is that I'm very sorry for this but THE NEXT CHAPTER IS CUTE I PROMISE


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Progressing relationships are _very_ hard to handle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope this is cute enough to make up for last chapter's sadness ^^ also, i'm really sorry this is so late! school has been tough lately >.

The next day was Saturday, to Eren’s dismay. He needed to clear things up with Jean before he ruined whatever they had going for them, but he couldn’t just walk up to Jean’s house and apologize. Hesitantly, he opened his laptop and logged on to Facebook. 

Jean was online. Eren’s heart sped up and he quickly sent a message. Just a casual greeting, nothing hinting at any awkwardness. He waited hopefully, but Jean didn’t respond. 

Trying not to seem too pushy, he sent another message.

_hey_

_im sorry about yesterday_

Still no response. A few moments later, a notification appeared on the chat window. 

_Jean is now offline._

“God damn it,” Eren muttered. He slammed his laptop shut in defeat. 

With a pained sigh, he decided to take a walk to the local playground, where he could think privately.

 

The playground was deserted, fortunately. Eren hopped over the fence and trudged over to the swings. 

“God, what do I do?” He said aloud. 

He sat, swinging gently, as the minutes dragged on. No solution came to his mind. He was about to give up, when the snap of a stick behind him made him turn so quickly that he nearly fell. 

“What the fuck?” The sight of Jean behind him made him mad, for some odd reason. The pain of rejection was replaced by frustrated anger.

“Hi.”

Jean was standing with his hands in his pockets, looking rather timid. Eren’s expression softened. 

“What’s wrong?” Eren asked gently.

Jean looked up at him. “I’m sorry.” He walked over and sat in the swing beside Eren. “I got really scared yesterday and I didn’t know how to deal with it, so I ran away. That was really cowardly of me.”

They sat in silence for a few moments, neither knowing what to say.

Eren could hear his own heart pounding as he realized that Jean was watching him. He made the mistake of looking over and meeting the other boy's eyes. Jean blushed furiously and looked away, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. 

After a few moments, Eren looked down as well. He jumped as he felt Jean's hand on his shoulder. He turned his head and before he could gather what was going on, there were lips pressed against his. Jean's lips were soft and tasted sweet, but the kiss was short and Eren felt himself missing the sensation as soon as it was over. 

“Sorry,” Jean burst out immediately. “That was impulsive.” 

He shuffled his feet and waited for Eren to speak. When the dark-haired boy said nothing, Jean cleared his throat.

“Uh, I guess I’ll be going now,” he mumbled. Eren reached out to stop him. 

“Jean, let me appreciate this for a damn minute before you go running off again.”

Jean blushed. “You appreciated it?”

The content look on Eren’s face answered his question like words couldn’t. 

With great hesitation, Jean reached out and grabbed Eren’s hand. Eren laughed.

“What?” Jean asked, indignant.

The shorter boy looked over with a smirk. “Jean, you’re gay as fuck.”

“That’s rich, coming from you,” Jean pouted. Eren gave a good-natured laugh. 

They sat together silently, whispering stupid cliches to each other and giggling. For once in his life, Eren could look Jean in the face without any anger and/or contempt. He actually felt his mood lifting with Jean’s presence.

It was a start.

 

“Eren, where have you been?!” Mikasa yelled as Eren walked through the door hours later. The faint blush quickly disappeared from his face.

“I was just on a walk.”

“Armin tells me you have a boyfriend.”

The blush returned quickly to Eren’s cheeks. “What?”

_That little shit!_

“Who is it?” Mikasa asked, trying to hide a smirk.

“First of all, he’s not my _boyfriend_ , and second of all, it’s none of your business.”

Mikasa crossed her arms. “But it’s Armin’s business?”

“Just leave me alone right now, Mikasa,” Eren complained. He trudged off to his room. 

When the door was securely closed and he was sure that Mikasa wasn’t listening at the doorway, Eren flopped onto his bed and squealed like a little girl. 

_Jean liked him!_

And to think, just 5 days prior he had hated Jean’s guts. 

Worst of all, Connie couldn’t have been any more right.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More emotional breakdowns in the wee hours of the morning for Eren. Next chapter, we'll see things from Jean's point of view!

The next time the two boys had the opportunity to talk was in the hallway after classes had ended on Monday. 

“Hey,” Jean said offhandedly, approaching Eren as he was putting his things away in his locker. Eren looked over and, seeing the taller boy’s hopeful face, felt his stomach twist in knots with an emotion he didn't recognize. 

“Hi.”

“Um, so about what happened the other day…” Jean began, leaning against the row of lockers. “Do you want to, uh, do that again some time?”

Eren nodded, though the sensation in his gut was getting stronger and he really couldn't tell if it was a good thing or a bad thing. 

Jean smiled brightly, and it made Eren feel so strange that he cleared his throat twice and had to look away.

“Great, so I’ll see you around then!” Jean added after a silent pause. Eren nodded again and smiled, though it felt forced. 

Jean watched him for a few moments, then waved and walked off grinning like he had just won the lottery. 

Once he was gone, Eren let out a long sigh and leaned back against his locker. His face felt hot, and the weird feeling in his stomach was only worsening as he thought about Jean.

He was such an _ass_. Eren found himself smiling, and he couldn't stop. He let out a breathy laugh. He had kissed Jean Kirschtein. He had kissed the biggest douche he’d ever met in his life, and he didn't regret it in the slightest. 

\- - -

“Armin?”

“Oh my god, Eren, it’s 1 in the morning. What do you want?”

Eren had called Armin out of habit, since he was the only one who didn’t get pissed when Eren woke him up with a stupid phone call. Eren figured that Armin couldn’t even get mad, he just lacked the emotion of anger. 

“I’m having a crisis.”

“Again?” Armin said with an exaggerated sigh. “About what?”

“I think I… love… Jean. Jean fucking Kirschtein, can you believe this? I can’t stop feeling all weird and tingly when I think about him, and I really want to kiss him again. I sound like a girl, help me!”

Armin tried to hold back a laugh and ended up snorting loudly. “Yeah, you really do. Wait a second… again? You’ve kissed him?”

Eren groaned. “Well, he kissed me, but I certainly didn’t have any complaints. What am I supposed to do? Should I ask him on a date? What if he doesn’t love me at all but he just wants to have a stupid fling or something?”

“Calm down. First you should figure out how he feels about you,” Armin said calmly. 

“How the hell am I supposed to do that?” Eren asked, still frantic.

“Ask him!” Armin said like it was obvious. 

“But I _can’t._ ”

“I’m certainly not going to ask him for you,” Armin vowed. 

Eren rolled his eyes. Armin was smart, but his love advice sucked. He tried to think of somebody else to call, he even considered asking Mikasa, but his sister would probably threaten Jean and all of his other friends couldn’t be trusted to keep his secret. Love. Ew.

“Well, I can’t help you if you refuse to take my advice, Eren. Now go to bed.” A beep notified that Armin had hung up. 

Eren tried to ponder what he should do, but his head hurt so badly he couldn’t think straight. At that moment, he realized that making Jean happy was going to cause a lot more problems for him than making him mad.


	7. Jean's POV

Loud screeching echoed throughout the house. 

“JEAN! COME DOWNSTAIRS FOR DINNER!”

Jean sighed and shouted back. “COMING!”

“Old hag,” he added under his breath. He shut his computer off and trudged out of his room and down the stairs. 

His father and mother were already eating. Jean took his place at the head of the table, promptly sneering at his food.

His mother clucked her tongue. “Don’t make faces. I worked very hard on this meal.”

“Whatever.” Jean had much more important things on his mind than bland soup and flaky meat. 

“How was school?” His father interjected. 

Jean surpressed a smile. “Boring.”

“How are your friends doing?”

“Armin’s good, Connie got suspended again, Marco’s great as always, and Eren-“ 

Jean stopped himself immediately. His parents knew absolutely nothing about the new progressions in his relationship with Eren. All they knew about were the multiple suspensions due to fights with the other boy. 

Their friendship wasn’t easily explained.

“Eren?” Jean’s mother asked, looking concerned. “Isn’t he that awful boy you fight with all of the time?”

Jean groaned. He did not want to deal with his mother’s invasive questions. “He’s a piece of shit as always, mom.”

“ _Language_!”

\- - -

“Jean, what on Earth do you want?” Marco complained. “I was supposed to be asleep three hours ago.”

Jean clutched his phone to his ear, whispering so his parents couldn’t hear him.

“I know, I know, I suck. I just really needed to talk to you. Sorry I had to call so late, but my parents can’t know about this.”

Marco sounded a bit more awake after that. “Know about what?”

“I kissed Eren.”

Marco fell into peals of laughter, so loud that Jean had to shush him. 

“Eren _Jaeger_? Also known as your _worst enemy_ who you will _never stop talking about_ how much you hate?” Marco barely managed to keep down his giggles. 

“Yes, you asshole! I think I sort of love-“ He backtracked. “ _like_ him. I like him. I think.”

“Are you… are you serious?” Marco sounded incredulous.

“Yes, I am being completely serious right now. I’m positive that I am at least a little bit gay for him.” Jean was blushing just from saying the words. “Now, I just need to figure out what to do next.”

“Well,” Marco began, taking on a professional-sounding tone of voice. “Do you want to date him?”

Jean had _no clue_. He didn’t know what he had to do to qualify as Eren’s boyfriend. 

_Eren’s boyfriend_. That was certainly a combination of words he never expected to say, especially describing himself. 

“Yeah, I guess I do want to date him,” he said finally. 

Marco was silent for a moment, probably pulling a dorky analyzing pose. “You don’t sound very sure about that.”

Jean sighed heavily. “I’m not. I mean, what if it gets weird? I’ve punched him in the face a lot more often than I’ve kissed him, you know. You can’t just expect us to get all lovey-dovey in only a week. I’m also not the most adept at social interaction, and I’ve never dated somebody in my life. This is all so weird and sudden; I’m second-guessing myself too much. You probably know way more than me about dating.”

“Actually, I’ve never dated anyone, either,” Marco replied softly.

“What? But girls love you, man! They fall all over you if you just smile at them! How have you not been asked out before?”

Marco’s voice sounded a bit strained. “I’m not, uh… all that into girls,” he muttered.

Jean groaned. “Everybody I know is gay. _Everybody_. You must have infected me with it.”

“You can’t infect somebody with gayness, Jean.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure.” Jean rolled his eyes. “Now, do you have any advice for me?”

Marco didn’t have any ideas. Jean said goodnight, apologized for calling at such a weird time, and hung up in defeat. 

He couldn’t, for the life of him, figure out exactly what he wanted. He picked up his iPod and shoved his headphones in his ears, blasting Fade to Black to drown out his confusion. 

He could make a decision _after_ a good night’s sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are appreciated, as always! <3


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> final chapter! please tell me what you thought, and send any questions to drowningmegane.tumblr.com ^^

It took weeks for Jean to build up his confidence. Two and a half, to be exact. He approached Eren at lunch and, after a long pause and a lot of nervous stuttering, asked if they could see a movie together.

The word ‘date’ was ricocheting painfully around Eren’s head. He was afraid, and ashamed to admit as such. The thought that his friends might not accept it, even that his dad might not accept it, nearly made him start shaking. 

But the thought of going to see a movie with Jean and just spending time together made Eren embarrassingly happy. It was just _Jean_ , for god’s sake, but everything felt strange lately so Eren just went with it. 

“Sure,” Eren said with a small smile. “I heard that there’s a new Die Hard remake coming out on Friday.”

Jean laughed. “Sounds awful. Let’s do it.”

\- - -

Jean did _not_ plan ahead well enough.

He realized that the moment he sat down at dinner on Thursday night. He had to tell his parents that he was seeing a movie, with whom they thought was his worst enemy.

“Mom,” he began, sliding his food around his plate without taking a bite. “I’m going to see a movie with a friend tomorrow.”

His mother gasped and clasped her hands together. “I’m so glad you’re making friends, darling! Do I need to drive you to the theater?”

Jean nodded, glad that she didn’t ask who he was going with. But she would find out eventually.

\- - -  
“I’m going to a movie with Jean, dad,” Eren proclaimed at the dinner table. 

His father didn’t look up from his medical textbook. “Do you need supervision?”

Eren shook his head. “Nah. You can just drop me off at the theater and pick me up two hours later.”

He paused, taking a bite of spaghetti. “By the way, it’s a date.”

“That’s nice.”

Eren was almost mad at his father’s lack of a reaction. “It’s a date with a guy, Dad. Like, a gay date.”

Dr. Jaeger let out an exasperated sigh. “I have more important things to worry about than who you date, Eren, unless they’re hurting you.”

Eren rolled his eyes and shoved a bread roll in his mouth. He wondered how Jean’s luck was holding up with his parents.

\- - - 

Eren and Jean sat with Reiner, Bertholdt, and Connie at lunch on Friday. Reiner winked when Jean told him about the date, and asked what movie they were going to see.

“The new Die Hard,” Eren answered.

Reiner frowned at Eren’s response. “That’s rated R. You guys can’t see it without an adult’s supervision.”

“I don’t want my parents in the same theater as me when I’m on a date!” Jean exclaimed, looking at Eren for a solution.

The brunet agreed. “Same here. I guess we need to bring a different adult.”

“Or someone who looks like an adult,” Reiner piped up. “Maybe someone _tall enough_ to be an adult…” 

Bertholdt started shaking his head violently. Connie burst into laughter, nearly falling off of his seat. Jean and Eren nodded in approval.

\- - -

Six hours later, after Jean explained the situation to his parents (he conveniently left out the part about Eren being there), he was dropped off at the theater. Eren and Bertholdt were inside already. The latter boy was sweating nervously and fidgeting, while Eren was trying to calm him. 

Eren caught sight of Jean and smiled brightly. 

They walked to the ticket counter. Bertholdt gulped. “One adult and two children,” he sputtered, placing a few wrinkled bills on the counter.

The bored-looking woman behind the counter smirked. “For what movie?”

Bertholdt froze for a moment, then composed himself and said the movie title. 

“I’m the adult,” he added awkwardly.

The woman gave him a funny look. “Sure, hon,” she said, taking the money and handing the boys their tickets.

They got to the movie without any trouble. Once they were there, Bertholdt sat at the far back, distancing himself from them as much as possible. Jean and Eren were happy sitting in the front row.

 

The movie turned out to be pretty crappy, but Jean enjoyed it just the same. It also helped that Eren leaned against him during the particularly violent parts. They met up with Bertholdt outside.. 

He gave them a nervous smile. “My parents are here, so uh… bye.”

He disappeared out of the door. Jean figured that he was the type to be incredibly awkward around couples. 

_He and Eren were a couple._

_Wow._

“Hey,” Jean said offhandedly. “Do you want to, like… go out? Officially?”

Eren smiled, cheeks flushing. “Yeah. I was about to ask you that, actually.”

Before Jean could say anything else, his mother appeared suddenly behind him.

“Ah, Eren,” she said coldly, reminiscent of Jean’s former attitude towards the brunet. “What a surprise.”

“Mom,” Jean hissed, “Eren is cool now. You don’t need to act like that.”

His mother looked confused, but nodded. 

“Actually,” Jean added, a bit louder than he needed to. “Eren is my boyfriend.”

Both Eren and Jean’s mother looked a bit surprised at Jean’s proclamation. 

After a pause, Jean’s mother smiled at Eren. “That’s wonderful. I’m so glad you two are close now.”

Jean let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. His mother was always the type to care more about what made Jean happy than what her own preferences were. 

Eren spotted his father’s car in the parking lot. “That was fun, Jean. See you on Monday.”

Jean nodded and gave him a warm smile. 

“Yeah. See ya.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> p.s. happy april fool's day ;)


End file.
